


carry me out

by azumarheart



Series: The Aftermath [2]
Category: Stranger Things (TV 2016)
Genre: Canon Compliant, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Established Relationship, Fluff, Found Family, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Implied/Referenced Character Death, Lesbian Robin Buckley, Light Angst, Missing Scene, and they talk about the gravity of this whole mess, basically what happens after the battle with robin and steve
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-02
Updated: 2019-10-02
Packaged: 2020-11-08 03:41:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,190
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20828813
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/azumarheart/pseuds/azumarheart
Summary: Robin doesn’t know how to cope with everything she’s seen. Doesn’t know how any of these kids will be able to go on living normally. How she will.It helps to have a friend who’s experience by your side though.aka a fic detailing the hours after the battle ends, and Robin and Steve go home





	carry me out

**Author's Note:**

> Sorry if they’re wildly ooc? Let me know, I feel like they are a bit. 
> 
> Just thinking of all the missing scenes I needed after the battle of starcourt that I did not get. There’s another one coming btw, I was in the middle of this and came up with a whole other story lol
> 
> If you enjoyed please comment 💕

“It’s only 9 o’clock,” Robin mumbled out loud, lifting her heavy arm to look at the cheap watch on her wrist. The Russians had left it on her, thankfully, and the time 9:38 looked back at her. 

Steve hummed from beside her. He sat with one leg out and one leg bent up, his left arm propped against his raised knee, holding an icepack to his eye. The other arm was draped haphazardly on the concrete. His fingers, dirty and bloody, lay a few inches away from Robin’s face. She was laying splayed out like a starfish, staring at the sky. 

The sounds of sirens and helicopters faded to the background, as she tried to ground herself. The past few hours, maybe days even, had been insane. Too much for her brain to comprehend. And she had a pretty big brain. 

When she started at Scoops Ahoy, she never expected to form a friendship with Steve. But she did, even though it started out with sibling-esque bickering and insults. It slowly adapted into more playful teasing, until suddenly Dustin showed up with a Russian transmission. And she couldn’t help but overhear because she was an eavesdropper by nature.

It all started with that transmission. And it was all fun and games, like a really hard brain teaser, until it was serious. Serious like Russian soldiers who wouldn’t hesitate to shoot, metal melting acid, kidnapping, interrogations, drugging, huge glowing machines, a girl with telekinesis, a HUGE flesh monster made out of people, made of her neighbors and classmates and people she knows, and they’re all dead, all melted together into this huge monstrosity and-

“You still got the drugs in your system? Be careful; the stars look a lot like the ceiling lights of the mall,” Steve joked at her trancelike stare at the sky. 

“Steve,” she whispered, chest tightening with anxiety and fear as the full extent of the night’s events settled in. He pulled the icepack away from his eye to look down at her properly, noticing the trembling in her hands. 

Steve reached down to grab her hand, squeezing her fingers gently. 

“How do you deal with this? Knowing that it might come back. Knowing that it might happen again. If this is the third time something’s happened, how do you handle not knowing if it’ll be the last? Knowing that you might not make it next time.” 

Robin rushed her questions. Her jaw clenched, and locked, until Steve’s thumb started to rub against the side of her hand. She let go of some of the tension in her jaw, breathing out shakily. Steve contemplated for a moment before speaking.

“It’s scary. The shit that happens is confusing and worst nightmare type of shit. I never know what’s going to happen or what the best way to fix things is, but we make it work somehow. Those damn kids are smart.” 

He paused to glance up at the preteens scattered around the parking lot. His fond smile loosened a bit of the tightness in her chest.

“I have to put in it perspective. If I’m going to die one day, I’d rather it be protecting these kids rather than getting hit by a car or dying of a heart attack or something else lame. These kids keep saving the world, and I know they have the power and strength to do it again. I know that when I fight, I have these kids behind me that will do everything in their power to protect me and everyone else. I believe in them.” 

Robin was awestruck. He cared so much and so genuinely about them. Even willing to die for them.

Steve Harrington was not who she thought he was.

She looked back up at Steve as he stared into the distance, deep in his thoughts. 

“I figured out what you should do with your life,” she said, grabbing his attention again. He looked confused, but she just smiled.

“You should be a teacher.”

Steve barked out an incredulous laugh.

“A teacher? Seriously? I’m dumber than a box of rocks Robin. Why?”

“Because you care. Because you care about kids and their thoughts and feelings. And you treat them like they’re adults which is what every kid wants. Because you trust these kids and would lay down your life to protect them. And I doubt that feeling wouldn’t extend to other kids. Plus I’ll help you study for the academic parts. It should be basic stuff if you teach elementary, or if you do secondary you could just focus on one subject. Even if it’s like, gym or something,”

Steve blinked, staring off in thought. Robin smiled at him, glad he was at least considering it. 

“I’ll... I’ll think about it,” he responded.

“And... if this happens again? I’ll be there too,” Robin says, rolling her head back against the concrete to stare at the sky. In her peripheral, Robin can see his head whip to her in shock.

“Robin. No one expects you to do that. We’d all understand if you stepped away now and protected yourself from all this mess. It’s probably smartest to run from it now and avoid getting tangled up in it.”

“No, Steve. I’m already in the middle of it. I’ve seen too much to just sit back and do nothing next time when I know what’s going on. Plus, who else is going to be able to translate cryptic Russian messages for you?” she deadpanned, making both of them laugh.

“I’ve grown fond of these kids too. Mainly Dustin and Erica of course, but the others seem pretty cool too,” she said softly, before continuing.

“I’ve never really understood my purpose beyond being first chair in band and like, getting good grades. I never figured out what my cosmic purpose is on this Earth. I’m here for a reason. I think whatever higher being controls us, whether fate or god or a giant fucking rat in the sky or some shit, it guided me to this moment to be with the rest of you. To fight whatever insane supernatural battle this is,” she ranted. Robin glanced back up at Steve to see him watching and listening intently. 

“I’ll be next in line to lay down my life to protect those kids, especially if it means they save the world.” 

Steve just looked at her, intense and unreadable. But then he broke into a smile. 

“Thank fuck Claire’s didn’t call me back for an interview.”

They both burst into laughter.

—-

The FBI agent that met them was familiar to Steve, and even though he intimidated Robin, Steve said it was fine.

“I’ve talked to this dude before, you just have to sign an NDA. Then we can go home. He might stop by to question us later but it’ll be on our terms. That’s their deal with... Hopper.” 

The loss was fresh in the kids’ minds, and Robin’s heart ached for them. He seemed like a good man. She couldn’t help but hug Eleven tightly when she walked over with a teary, splotchy face. Robin wasn’t one for open affection usually, especially with near-strangers, but something called her to Eleven.

“I lost my mom when I was your age. I know how hard it is. Don't be afraid to feel the pain. You’ll be okay, eventually. I promise,” Robin whispered. Eleven looked up with those pure puppy-dog eyes, and Robin’s heart broke further. 

“Your mom is gone too? Do you miss her?”

“Oh, every day kid. I still wake up sometimes thinking she’ll be in the kitchen when I go downstairs. But it gets easier. And you’ll always remember the good times you had together. It’ll be okay,” Robin said softly, in a voice she usually reserved for her kid brother. It calmed Eleven. The young girl nodded sadly, and wiped her eyes before stepping back.

“Thank you,” Eleven said, with a weak, short smile

Robin signed some forms alongside Steve, and was about ready to collapse by the time they finished. They were guided into a police car to be taken home. Before she could think, Steve gave out his address, and stopped her when she went to do the same. 

“It’s better to not be alone the first night after. Trust me,” Steve responded to her unspoken question. 

“But my dad is probably wondering where I am. It’s been almost a whole day since I’ve been home.”

“It’s fine, you can call him at my house. Say you went to the fair and are staying at a friend’s house. Don’t tell him you worked tonight; pretend you know nothing about what happened to the mall. Not even the fake story.”

Robin agreed and stared silently out the window for the rest of the car ride.

As they walked inside his huge home, the silence continued. She looked at him questioningly, and he half-smiled back.

“Yeah, my parents basically don’t even live here anymore. They’ve been staying down south so often nowadays that I think they’ve forgotten this house exists,” he said sardonically. The unspoken ‘and me’ sat heavily between them. She gave him a sad look.

“Don’t look at me like that. I’m used to it.” 

“You shouldn’t be,” she responded softly, brushing her fingers gently over the back of his hand. Before he could respond, she moved to the house phone to call her dad. 

Once he was sufficiently convinced and calmed, Steve handed her a water bottle and grabbed a bunch of snack foods. He led them upstairs to his room, and threw them down on his desk. 

Going into his closet, he pulled out a big t-shirt, and grabbed some shorts for her to wear. 

“If you want anything else, feel free to raid my closet or my mom’s closet is down the hall. She won’t notice if anything is gone. Nancy used to take shit all the time.”

She took his clothes and borrowed a pair of his mom’s underwear and a soft cotton bra. It should have felt weird, but they were new and both had tags on them, so she wasn’t bothered.

Steve showed her the master bathroom, and left her so he could shower in his own bathroom. 

But as soon as the door closed behind her, she fully understood why he invited her over. Her anxiety spiked through the roof, her breathing suddenly heaving, ears ringing in the silence. The room felt too bright and too small, and she slammed the door back open instantly. 

“Wait, Steve!” she breathed out, wild eyes instantly locking with his. Robin saw that he had only taken two steps down the hall, and was propped against the wall, as if waiting for her. 

“I know. Like I said; it’s terrifying to be alone,” Steve said solemnly, offering a sad half-smile.

“Could you... could you stay in the bathroom while I shower? Like turn away and stuff but just... be there,” she asked, trying not to sound like she was pleading. 

“Yeah of course.”

He dutifully turned around when she asked, and she got into the shower finally. Washing off the sweat and blood and stress felt so good, and so calming after everything. She got out, after warning Steve, and changed. They repeated the process so that Steve could shower, then headed back to his room.

Robin flopped onto one side of his bed, rubbing her tired eyes. Steve threw her a water and asked her what snack she wanted. He brought over her choice, and flopped down next to her. They ate in silence for a moment, before Robin piped up. 

“I think it goes unspoken, but you’re a pretty good guy Steve. I hope you know that. Seeing how you care for those kids, how brave you are in the face of some scary shit, and how considerate you are of me being afraid after everything, just... it’s really something special. I’m glad we’re friends,” she spoke softly, turning away from the ceiling to look at him. He stared back with a bashful smile, an expression Robin could have never expected to see on him. It suited him though.

“Thanks Robin. That means a lot actually. But don’t forget you’re pretty awesome too. Not many people would be willing to stay and fight in the situations we were in. That’s pretty brave if I do say so myself.”

He laughed to himself then continued.

“I’m happy you’re my friend. I don’t really have any of those besides those kids.”

“It’s cause you’re a dingus,” she smiled back, dodging his hand that reached out to slap her arm. They fake fought for a minute, before stopping with breathless laughter. 

After finishing up their food, Steve heaved himself up to turn on his desk lamp, and turn off the overhead light. Robin, getting the cue, scooted under the blankets, and got comfortable. Steve returned to her side, doing the same.

It was silent again, and Robin felt hyper aware of every sound. Unintentionally, her breathing picked up again, but Steve reached out to grab her hand. Her breathing steadied. 

And they fell asleep, content and together.

**Author's Note:**

> I love best friends I love Robin I love Steve I love this dynamic duo! I needed them being careful with one another after everything dies down.
> 
> title from mitski :)


End file.
